Four Winds casino to break ground on June 3

Pokagons plan unique ceremony for resort project.

Pokagons plan unique ceremony for resort project.

May 19, 2006|LOU MUMFORD Tribune Staff Writer

NEW BUFFALO -- It won't be your run-of-the-mill ground-breaking ceremony. Twelve years after voting to pursue a casino, the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians will finally break ground June 3 on its $160 million Four Winds Casino Resort near Interstate 94 and Michigan 239 in New Buffalo Township. Should all go as planned, the first phase of the development which will include a 124,000-square-foot casino will be up and running in 10 to 14 months. Media invitations to the ground-breaking ceremony were mailed this week. Included will be performances by drum groups and a tribal blessing of the 675-acre tract, 52 acres of which will be developed for the casino resort. Once completed, the development will include a casino offering more than 100 gaming tables and 3,000 slot machines, a covered parking garage accommodating 2,200 vehicles, six restaurants and a hotel with 160 rooms and suites. A special events center also is anticipated. Tribal members voted to pursue a casino shortly after President Clinton signed legislation in 1994 restoring federal recognition to the band. But following a lengthy process in which the tribe selected a site for its casino and entered into a contract with Minneapolis-based Lakes Entertainment to manage the facility, legal challenges launched by Taxpayers of Michigan Against Casinos in New Buffalo halted the project for six years. The last legal roadblock appeared to be removed in January when the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D. C., upheld a federal judge's rejection of environmental arguments and other issues raised by TOMAC. The ruling allowed land to be taken into trust for the casino resort. TOMAC officials remain hopeful, however, that the Michigan Supreme Court will throw out the tribe's gaming compact with the state. Should the compact be voided, the Pokagons and three other Michigan tribes would need to have new compacts approved by the state Legislature. About 1,000 workers will help build the casino resort and an estimated 2,000 people are expected to work at the casino. Projections have estimated that the facility will attract more than 4 million visitors a year. The casino resort is expected to bring in about $250 million in its first year of operations. The money will provide the tribe's nearly 3,000 members, about half of which live in Indiana and Michigan, with revenue for housing, health care, education, elder care and cultural revitalization.